I am very fortunate that my husband Tom does basically all of the cooking in our house. That's one of the main reasons that I have so much time to bake. While I often make a savory tart or some dinner rolls when we host guests for dinner, I rarely cook for just me and Tom. But while I was furloughed, I made an effort to cook more since I had so much free time.
One set of recipes I tried that I highly recommend are the Mushroom and Beef Meatballs and Mushroom and Beef Burgers from The New York Times that are both made with the same Roasted Mushroom Base. While both are delicious, I prefer the meatballs. Tom prefers the burgers and I made them a couple of times during the government shutdown. I figured that as long as I was making hamburgers, I should make my own buns. So I tried a recipe from King Arthur Flour for Beautiful Burger Buns.
This is a simple recipe. You combine all of the ingredients -- lukewarm water, room temperature butter, an egg, flour, sugar, salt, and instant yeast -- and knead them until you get a smooth dough. I did this in my Kitchenaid mixer fitted with the dough hook, so it required hardly any effort at all. I let the dough rise until doubled and then divided it into twelve portions. (The recipe says it yields eight "large" buns but I wanted a slightly smaller size.) I shaped each piece into a ball, tried to flatten them with my hand (this wasn't very effective, because the dough had a lot of spring and resisted strongly), and let them rise until puffy. Then I brushed the buns with egg-white wash and sprinkled on sesame seeds before baking.
I immediately brushed the buns with some melted butter after taking them out of the oven. They looked like ordinary hamburger buns. But they were the most delicious hamburger buns I've ever tasted. The buns were light and soft and somehow tasted very buttery, like a tender brioche. They were so much better than any store-bought buns.
The smaller buns I made were perfectly sized for our mushroom and beef burgers (which were six-ounce patties, so they were not exactly small). We had some extras that I put in the freezer and they were awesome even after being frozen and thawed. Normally I would never consider making my own hamburger buns, because they are so inexpensive and easy to pick up at any grocery store. Also, people usually don't pay close attention to the bun when they eat a burger. But honestly, these buns were so amazing that I know I will miss them the next time I eat a grocery-store hamburger bun. They're really not that difficult to make, so I plan to keep on making my own buns!
Recipe: "Beautiful Burger Buns" from King Arthur Flour.
One set of recipes I tried that I highly recommend are the Mushroom and Beef Meatballs and Mushroom and Beef Burgers from The New York Times that are both made with the same Roasted Mushroom Base. While both are delicious, I prefer the meatballs. Tom prefers the burgers and I made them a couple of times during the government shutdown. I figured that as long as I was making hamburgers, I should make my own buns. So I tried a recipe from King Arthur Flour for Beautiful Burger Buns.
This is a simple recipe. You combine all of the ingredients -- lukewarm water, room temperature butter, an egg, flour, sugar, salt, and instant yeast -- and knead them until you get a smooth dough. I did this in my Kitchenaid mixer fitted with the dough hook, so it required hardly any effort at all. I let the dough rise until doubled and then divided it into twelve portions. (The recipe says it yields eight "large" buns but I wanted a slightly smaller size.) I shaped each piece into a ball, tried to flatten them with my hand (this wasn't very effective, because the dough had a lot of spring and resisted strongly), and let them rise until puffy. Then I brushed the buns with egg-white wash and sprinkled on sesame seeds before baking.
The smaller buns I made were perfectly sized for our mushroom and beef burgers (which were six-ounce patties, so they were not exactly small). We had some extras that I put in the freezer and they were awesome even after being frozen and thawed. Normally I would never consider making my own hamburger buns, because they are so inexpensive and easy to pick up at any grocery store. Also, people usually don't pay close attention to the bun when they eat a burger. But honestly, these buns were so amazing that I know I will miss them the next time I eat a grocery-store hamburger bun. They're really not that difficult to make, so I plan to keep on making my own buns!
Recipe: "Beautiful Burger Buns" from King Arthur Flour.
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